Following is a review of Linked(In) University (LinkedU), which I took myself. The course was purchased and the owners did not solicit this review.

One of the things I do is social media management, be that marketing or prospecting. I pride myself on keeping up with the latest strategies because Internet marketing is in a state of perpetual change. However, after many years of working online, I know there is a deeper level of knowledge about virtually everything. It’s not just skills, but wisdom based on experience that is only gained by those who specialize in something to a point of obsession. It’s where true “guru” status is earned.

Josh Turner (best-selling author of Connect) and Ben Kniffen are unquestionably LinkedIn gurus. They not only know LinkedIn inside and out, they also know how to work this massive professional network to their advantage from every perspective. They’ve literally made it their business to study and test each and every feature so that they might find more effective ways to grow a business using LinkedIn. It had to work for them because they have clients paying them a lot of money to build and execute LinkedIn marketing campaigns that deliver tremendous results. They have taken this experience, knowledge and wisdom and turned it into the LinkedU Advanced Marketing and Lead Generation System, a definitive training program to build your business on LinkedIn.

Chances are, most of your prospects are on LinkedIn, be they B2B or B2C. That is especially true of anyone who shops online. In fact, a recent HubSpot study determined that LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than other social media networks. The goal of LinkedU is to increase the number of qualified leads you’re getting and ultimately increase revenue. You’ll be able to establish your level of expertise, hand-select the clients you want to work with and send your sales through the roof.

Linked University is designed for:

Business Owners

Consultants

Authors and Speakers

Service Providers

Marketing and Social Media Professionals

Sales Professionals

Students (they offer certification if you want it)

First, I attended a free webinar, which didn’t take long to convince me that Josh really does know what he’s talking about. Working in this space makes me a tough sell, because I have the knowledge base to know the difference between valuable information and common knowledge.

Due to that previous knowledge on the topic, I still expected to be quite bored through most of this LinkedIn course. After several modules I was pleasantly surprised to realize I was learning something from each one. Sometimes it was a tip that improved my efficiency or an avenue I hadn’t considered. Other times I had to keep pausing the video every couple of minutes so I could scribble down the wealth of new information.

Josh and Ben have found the perfect medium in teaching beginners through to experts. The videos don’t involve watching someone talk while they show you slides, you’ll actually watch them as they go through LinkedIn, clicking, typing and so on. You can also download audio files for listening on the move, along with supporting documents such as workbooks, templates, swipe files and spreadsheets. Rounding out the course lessons are resources, interviews and webinars.

Perhaps most importantly, the LinkedU course is always current. They provide monthly new releases, expert interviews, case studies, resources, and monthly live group coaching calls.

This advanced LinkedIn marketing and lead generation system includes the following:

Foundation (Setup) on LinkedIn

Creating & Optimizing a Profile That Attracts Prospects
Prospect Profile
Create a Company Page
LinkedIn Company Policies & Training Your Team
Join the Right Groups

Database Building on LinkedIn

How a business consultant uses connection requests to land calls with 50-60% of prospects.
New Theories for Database Building Practices
How to Send Personalized Connection Requests in Bulk
How to Connect with Anyone on LinkedIn (Including 3rd Degree Connections)
What to Do When LinkedIn Restricts Your Profile From Sending Connection Requests

Top of Mind Campaign for LinkedIn

LinkedIn Automation and Outsourcing Basics
Set up an Automated Top of Mind Campaign
Easily Find Good Content to Share
Content Development (Idea Generation and a Framework for Creating Killer Content)

Prospecting and Finding Business Opportunities on LinkedIn

Essentials
LinkedIn Prospecting Best Practices
Mine your Connections for Leads and Intelligence
How to Target and Penetrate Specific Companies

Ongoing Lead Generation on LinkedIn

Business Development Process with a 70% Response Rate
How to Re-engage your First Degree Connections
LinkedIn Lead Generation on 20 Minutes per Day
Creating and Executing Successful Messaging Campaigns
The Multi-Touchpoint LinkedIn Messaging System
The Cold Pitch Message
Asking for the Sale
All About LinkedIn Groups
Get More Referrals, Be More Productive on LinkedIn
Using Mentions to Promote Your Business in Status Updates
Campaign Tracking System
Promoting Events (and Webinars) with LinkedIn
Promoting Products and Services with LinkedIn Ads
How to Target Your LinkedIn Connections Through Facebook Ads
How to Create a Facebook Lookalike Audience From Your LinkedIn Connections

Run Your Own LinkedIn Group

Starting Your Own Group
Managing Your Own Group with Success
Growing Your LinkedIn Group
Bonus Group Growth training

… and more.

I found it to be a slower process than what is suggested during the course and in some reviews. I had to test and tweak it a bit to better target my ideal client, but any marketing strategy should tested and adjusted so I wasn’t surprised. After that, I saw steady, consistent results.

Here are just a few people who have been very successful with this LinkedIn strategy:

“In 18 months cold calling I got nowhere. With your program I have responses in less than 2 weeks. I now have 100 leads from decision makers who took interest in my company!” ~John Lee, US Teamwear Limited

“We’ve generated several bid opportunities and got one PO from just a few hours of working the LinkedIn marketing strategies that Josh taught us.” ~Corey McDonald, Green Space Construction

“I was very skeptical at first. The next thing I knew it was just taking off, and now it’s become a part of the way we do business. It took the place of a lot of marketing dollars, and we’re coming in under budget on our marketing. We’ve actually experienced growth this year. It looks like next year, as a result of LinkedIn, we could have a 30-40% increase in annual revenue…just as a result of LinkedIn.” ~Ben Cohen, Vice President at Cohen Architectural Woodworking

Our mission is to help Canadian businesses compete online and sharing this course with you will definitely give you an edge. Utilizing social media marketing to its maximum potential is something many businesses come up short on, be that a lack of knowledge or time. If you don’t have the LinkedIn knowledge to leverage the professional network, take this course. If you don’t have the time to implement the strategy, hire someone to do it for you. Hiring people doesn’t cost you money, it makes you money. If you’re still on the fence, you will be reassured to know they offer a 30-day, 100% money-back guarantee.

The only negative I could dig up to make this a balanced review, is an annoying speaking habit that many share. Josh says “alright” at the end of every other sentence. Maybe it’s just me but it drove me nuts, and it made me hesitate to sign up after attending the webinar where this habit was already apparent. Ben does it to a lesser degree, but he seems to like “OK” more. It was well worth tolerating to gain access to their brains.

We give the LinkedU Advanced LinkedIn Marketing and Lead Generation System by Josh Turner, four maple leaves out of five.

Have you generated leads on LinkedIn? Please share your experience in the comments below.

P.S. I’m always happy to connect with people on LinkedIn if you’d like to send an invitation to me.

I worked away at it for several weeks. I stopped and took notes, etc. so I’m not sure how long it took all together. Implementing and maintaining the plan takes time but the results are worth the effort IMO.

yup yup YUP! these guys are the real deal. i’ve been to a couple of webinars & watched all free videos. now I’m saving my pennies to take the course & should be soon! so sick of the wantabes wasting my time & money. look forward to some REAL expert info. 🙂 🙂 🙂

I did this one too and in the year or so since I’ve done very well on Linkedin. I don’t even have a website but I’m a consultant so all of my potential clients are there in one place. I recommend taking every single part of it even if you think you’re an expert because there’s something for you each time. No regrets.

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